Easy Burn
by steepedinshadows419
Summary: AU - Barry gets sunburned when Iris is on lifeguard duty. Barry/Iris. One-shot.


**A/N:** Yet another fic for the _Westallen Meet-Up Fanfiction Event_. lol. This could continue possibly, but for right now it's a standalone. I hope you enjoy it. :)

*****Many thanks to **sendtherain** for beta'ing.

*****I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

"Is it bad?" Barry asks, and Iris can't bear to tell him the truth.

It's horrendous, bright red, and covering every inch of his arms, shoulders, neck, and the half-circle of skin at the top of his back where his tank cut off.

"What _happened_, Barry?"

He cringes and admits defeat, the shrugging of his shoulders making him wince in pain.

"It's bad."

"I thought you put on sunscreen," she scolds.

"I did!" he insists, then lowers his voice. "Or I thought I did, at least."

Hesitantly he lifts the bottle up so she can see. She reads the label, then sets it down and glares at him.

"Body lotion."

He laughs nervously.

"Again?"

"My skin _chafes_!" he cries out.

"And burns too, apparently." She presses her fingers into one of the paler red spots, and he yelps.

"Iris!"

"Just making a point."

He exhales heavily in relief when she removes her hand.

"Come on, let's go inside. I'll put some lotion on you, so you're not in so much pain. You're not coming out again today, though."

"Iris," he whines, but she gives him a look that makes him shut up.

He doesn't like the idea of guys ogling her when he's not present, even though he knows he has nothing to worry about, despite the fact that she's not even his girlfriend.

Inside the building, she leads him into the massage parlor and to an unused room where she gestures for him to lay face down on one of the beds.

"I won't push too hard, don't worry," she says, when he eyes the lotion she's pouring into her hand. She'd been taking some classes to learn how to be a masseuse, just for fun. He knew she'd done great work, but he wasn't so sure his sunburn would appreciate that today.

Once on the bed, she slides the cool liquid onto his upper back and begins to spread it over every sunburned area. He practically purrs beneath her touch.

"That feels good, Iris," he murmurs.

She smirks to herself. "I bet it does."

He's almost asleep by the time she finishes, having indulged himself in the scent and feel of the lotion on her hands and the gentle humming she was doing as she sought to soothe his burns.

"Okay," she says, sounding proud of herself. "All done."

Barry's hesitant to move in any particular way, and he's pretty certain he won't be able to stand up the way he laid down. Iris comes to stand beside him, moving her hand gently over his burned skin so he can see it doesn't hurt as long as the lotion is still working.

"It'll be okay, Barry," she says gently. "I've got you."

It would probably an insult to any macho man who thinks they don't need help from anyone, let alone a woman, but to him it's safety and security. She's his best friend.

So, he moves with her, and though there is some pain when he contorts his body to get back to a standing position, the pain is dull compared to what it was before they walked in there.

"You good?" she asks, looking over him worriedly despite her confident tone.

"Yeah," he says, relaxing in his stance. "I think I am."

"Good." She smiles tremulously. "Because I gotta go relieve Linda. She's not used to this lifeguarding stuff." She gestures to the window where Linda is sitting high up on Iris' lifeguard seat and eyeing everyone who walks past her to see if their stride constitutes running or not.

"I wouldn't have thought that kind of thing made her uptight," he says, surprised. "Especially since, well, it's lifeguarding." He looks at Iris and smirks. "How hard can it be?"

She lifts her hand to smack him, but he delivers his own punishment when he turns away too fast and feels the pain spreading down his neck and across his shoulders.

"You gotta put on sunscreen, for one," she says, grabbing a towel to wipe her hands clean before heading out the door.

"Wait!" he calls before she disappears entirely from his view. "When will I see you again?"

She looks flustered for a minute but quickly composes herself. He wonders what she was thinking.

"At dinner, I assume. My shift only goes till five."

He nods. "Okay."

"You going to be all right in here while I'm gone?"

He smiles lazily, all heart eyes. "I will certainly try."

She shakes her head and rolls her eyes as she leaves, but she sways her hips a little more than usual. He wonders if the odds of her rejecting him are as low as he thought.


End file.
